Consumer Driven Health Care

Employee-sponsored health plans can be part of the solution to helping patients make the best decisions about their health.

"Finally, we beat Big Pharma," said President Joe Biden to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Wednesday at a White House event to promote efforts to lower the cost of asthma inhalers and other health-care expenses.

Concierge practices started more than 20 years ago, mainly in upscale areas, however, nonprofit hospitals are now adding these services, charging patients annual membership fees of $2,000+ for easier access to their doctors.

Aetna, Elevance Health and Kaiser Permanente will cover Wegovy to reduce heart attack risk in Medicare patients with heart conditions, following the FDA's approval of the drug to reduce stroke or heart attack risk in March.

Senator Bernie Sanders, who cites a Yale study that found an Ozempic dose costs Novo Nordisk less than $5 a month to manufacture, wants to meet with the drugmaker's CEO to discuss the drug's costs.

Larry Krasner, Philadelphia's district attorney, filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and other drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers, on behalf of the 1.1 million Pennsylvanians who have diabetes, like himself.

Last fall, the Biden administration issued an executive order giving the Department of Health and Human Services the daunting task of putting guardrails around increasingly advanced artificial intelligence health care models.

With one estimate predicting women will account for close to half of the disease costs in the U.S. by 2040 – a $66 billion price tag – it's a high-priority topic for the Biden administration and HHS, which will soon release guidelines.